U.S. National Team coach Jurgen Klinsmann announced his 21 player roster that will travel to Genoa, Italy to face the Azzurri.

The roster isn't thick with surprises, as it was long expected to be a European-heavy roster with the addition of Landon Donovan and a couple of other players from the U.S. and Mexico.

The biggest surprise that will have National Team fans talking with a hint of excitement is Borussia Dortmund's Terrence Boyd, who was packing his bags to join the U-23 camp when he received the call from Klinsmann.

Boyd has been tearing up the U-23 ranks at Dortmund and has received strong praise from his manager, Jurgen Klopp. According to Klopp, Boyd is being groomed to take over a striker position in the future for the German giants.

With 10 players on the bench and six subs available, a lot of things will have to be going right for the 21 year old to see action, but with Jozy Altidore and Edson Buddle being the only other pure forwards on the roster, the opportunity may arise.

In total, there are 16 European based players on the roster, four from MLS, and Jose Torres from Mexico. After months of waiting, Klinsmann and fans will finally get to see Donovan and Clint Dempsey on the field at the same time, playing in the new possession, attack based system that Klinsmann is trying to implement.

Additionally, there will be some interesting position ideas available, as Timothy Chandler has been having a successful run at right wing for Nurnberg, and Fabian Johnson has been holding down the left back position for Hoffenheim recently.

My guess is that Boyd is coming because (1) he is scoring goals; (2) JK wanted to send him a message that his future is with the Nats since he holds dual cit.; and (3) a trip to Italy from German would not put into jeopardy his rising status at Dortmund. Does anyone else see a trend here in getting very high quality Germans to play for Klinnsman? And we are seeing great things from them. Jones was by far the best player in the last match. Johnson and Chandler have also shown themselves to be very high quality players. It's great to see we have moved beyond the anti-Torres bias of the previous coach. I'm excited about this match and I can't wait to see our boys take on Italy but something inside me wishes that we could have put up such a strong team against a slightly less stellar team than Italy. A very gutsy call. I hope to see a continuation of the attack mode. What a pity that we can not see the US beat Italy with Rossi on the pitch.

4bc

Sunday February 26, 2012 1:51 am

Solid group. Hopefully this marks the end of the Beckerman try out.

Maybe Chandler's recent multi-position play will see him out of the LB position I still think he's being wasted in and looks/plays totally unnatural. Still love to see Spector rise to that gig.

Love seeing Torres back in. I don't think Kljestan will be missed at all with the wealth of midfield talent and a very intimidating Italy team that we'll need to counter with more physical guys like Jones, Bradley, and Edu.

After Donovan's EPL success and the game he's evolving into, I hope he's positioned behind at least 2 forward players. Would be nice to see Dempsey and Altidore up top with Altidore making way for looks at Boyd and/or Buddle. Maybe also a position shift that puts Chandler up top.

I think this team can give Italy a good game and perhaps
Even get a result.

Cole Joseph

Saturday February 25, 2012 3:07 am

@Mark...I'm sure they know who he is. I've heard of him so i'm sure they have. Maybe the just don't see that much in him or maybe since he is only 20 they don't feel the need to rush especially with the depth we have at the forward position for his age group. It will be interesting to see what happens with him though.

scout92

Friday February 24, 2012 7:54 pm

Where's sacha..? Findley, Davies, and Ream will be here soon.

G. Smith

Friday February 24, 2012 6:26 pm

It is painfully obvious why the MLS needs to find a way to keep and showcase American soccer players. Our talented players are spread all over Europe, and instead of playing only in the top 4 leagues in Europe and the MLS our guys play in a dozen different leagues in a wide variety of cities throughout Europe. It is near impossible to find all the young potential players trying to improve their craft abroad. The MLS still needs to mature as a league, technically and tactically. They also need to improve player salaries but that will drive up ticket costs and I am not sure the league has enough loyal fans throughout the league to withstand any backlash from fans on high ticket prices. But until the league is recognized as one of the better leagues in the world we will continue to have players fall through the cracks.

euroman

Friday February 24, 2012 2:38 pm

Only 18 will dress so sorry Boyd, Nick & Cameron.

Mark WNY

Friday February 24, 2012 1:43 pm

I'm reposting this coment from another website. Originally posted by Christian in Upstate NYC:

Danijal (Dani BRKOVIC) is missing: he is a 20 yo American striker with the speed of Davies and the talent and drive of Donovan; he is currently playing for Velez Mostar(premier) in Bosnia; in HS in Johnson City NY he broke all kind of scoring records; he is equally gifted with both legs but I don't think Klinsman even know he exists even though he is one of very few Yanks that are natural forwards that are playing abroad; even though the Bosnian league has a very long winter break; from mid December to the first week of March not one professional coach from the US has contacted this young talented athlete, in order to take a look at him; one of the reasons why when a team loses its most likely the coaches fault.F

Cole Chaisson

Friday February 24, 2012 1:56 am

@ Eric K...our midfield is way too deep to try and push Chandler up there. Glad to see Boyd get called up, I really hope he gets some minutes.
Altidore
Johnson, Dempsey, Donovan
Torres, Bradley
Chandler, Boca, Cameron, Dolo
Howard